This is why you may see mucky trains on the West Coast Main Line later this month

Rail union, the RMT, has announced that train cleaners, who worked to keep Avanti West Coast trains clean and safe for passengers throughout the pandemic, will be taking strike action in pursuit of fair pay.

The staff are employed by Atalian Servest Limited, a multi-national outsourcing company based in France, which carries out the cleaning as a sub-contractor of Alstom which holds the contract with Avanti.

The outsourced cleaners are paid £9.68 per hour, less than the Real Living Wage and have no company sick pay, meaning that they frequently come into work when sick because they cannot make ends meet.

Atalian Servest have refused to make an offer that would raise pay above the Real Living Wage rate of £9.90, with their latest offer amounting to an just additional 6p per hour for most staff (especially those outside London).